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If I set up an all day event and choose "10 minutes" as the remind time, when should I expect to be reminded of the event?

I'm looking for an exact date/time.

Update: I guess they are really sent relative to 12:00 AM... it's just that I'm having a different problem where it's not respecting my time zone settings and instead is using UTC.

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2
  • I find that email alerts are often off as described above, but popup and SMS alerts are generally received accurately (10 minutes before midnight). My time zone is set correctly on all calendars I receive alerts for. – Josh Newman Jul 14 '10 at 3:18
  • I actually first noticed this problem with SMS alerts. not sure about popup though. – Senseful Jul 14 '10 at 3:32
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They are sent based on 5pm the previous day in your calendar's local time zone.

From Google's page:

Reminders for events that last the entire day ('All Day' events) are based on 5:00 pm the day before the event (according to your current time zone). If you choose to receive your reminder 10 minutes before your "All Day" event on August 24th, you'll be reminded on August 23rd at 4:50 pm.

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Your reminder will go off at 11:50pm - i.e. 10 minutes before midnight of the all-day event.

I just tried setting up a an all-day event with an alert to go off 800 minutes before. - i.e. at 10:40am - and it worked.

i.e., the all-day event begins at midnight at the start of that day.

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  • see my updated question. What time zone are you located in? – Senseful Jul 14 '10 at 2:05
  • I'm in Sydney, Australia (UTC+10). You need to make sure your calendar timezone is set. Click on the dropdown next to the calendar name and select Settings. Then change the value in Calendar Time Zone. After setting, it should say "This calendar uses your current time zone" – nevster Jul 14 '10 at 4:28
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    Seems like they are actually sent at 5PM: google.com/support/calendar/bin/… – Senseful Aug 4 '10 at 5:25
  • This is absolutely incorrect; they are sent based on 5pm the previous day. See the accepted answer. – Tim Parenti Feb 25 '12 at 19:51
  • They must have changed it since this answer. Makes much more sense now. Up-voting new correct answer... – nevster Feb 28 '12 at 3:14
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Figure out which calendar the event exists on; look in the list of calendars on the left of the main display, click on the drop-down arrow to the right of the calendar name, click on "Calendar Settings".

You'll see the timezone for that calendar specified; if it's the main calendar for your account, it will be the timezone you've given Calendar for your account (and which will auto-suggest other timezones when you travel).

If you've changed timezones, any sub-calendars you've already created will stick with the timezone you had when you created that sub-calendar - every calendar or sub-calendar has independent settings.

The definition of all-day should manage to start at the start of the day in the timezone in which the calendar exists. There should be a red-line across "today" in one of the grid-views, showing what Calendar thinks the current time is for you.

If you're using VPNs to try to hide your source IP, you might have ended up with a calendar that's, say, in the UK but appears "right" to you, until you try to share events.

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  • Both my "global" timezone and the calendar's timezone are set to PDT. The red line shows the current time correctly. – Senseful Jul 14 '10 at 2:41
  • I updated the question – Senseful Jul 16 '10 at 20:33
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Regardless of what google's docs say, the alert comes 10 minutes before midnight the day before the event. I still see this behavior, and so do a lot of other people too http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/calendar/THscLWELKZE

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